A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and the social issues of our time.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Help Me If You Can, I'm Feelin Down

Guest Post by Rabbi Dovid Landesman

Yesterday, I attended the demonstration in Kikar Shabbat
called by the Eidah ha-Chareidit to protest the proposed revisions to the Tal
law. I participated not because I am a supporter of the Eidah; rather, I suspected that I wanted
to comment on what the demonstration represented and I therefore sought first
hand information as well as impressions.

The demonstration, to my mind, was extraordinarily sad. It
was well organized and the police presence was absolutely minimal which meant
that it was peaceful. But to witness how a few thousand young children, little
boys who project an aura of innocence and purity, were exposed to bitter hatred
and vituperative demagoguery – frankly, it makes me cry.

The single speaker, anonymous
but introduced as a mechanech in one of
the participating chadarim, was blessedly brief but extremely inflammatory. At
one point he told the children that they should not be impressed if they see a
policeman or soldier with peyot, tzitzit and a yarmulke – despite his
appearance, such a person cannot be a true frumme yid.

I wonder if this “mechanech” ever told his young charges
about an Israeli soldier named Roie Klein hy”d, a major in the IDf who died in
the Second Lebanon War when he fell onto a grenade so as to save the soldiers
around him. The last words he said were a request that his soldiers join him
and say Shema Yisrael.

Does this “educator” ever talk about Colonel Dror Weintraub,
the commander of the brigade stationed in Chevron who, while making kiddush on
Friday night for his family, heard firing from the area of M’arat ha-Machpeila,
put his becher down and ran out with his M16 never to return.

Does he even know who Yossi ben Chanan is, an IDF brigade
commander who was gravely wounded in the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur
war. Lying in a ditch next to his burned out tank, he removed the symbols of
rank from the epaulets on his uniform and handed them to his driver,
instructing him to wear them because he knew that the Syrians were less likely
to kill a captured officer than they would a non-com.

All that these children heard, and I suspect, all that they
ever hear is about the horrid tzionim who want to prevent them from learning
Torah and keeping mitzvot. The pashkevilim on the walls of Meah Shearim
compared the present government to Stalin, Torqemada and Antiochus among
others. What a chilul ha-kodesh, what a desecration of those who were moser
nefesh for Torah u’mitzvot. I do not
hate the Eidah for their politics; I despise them for what they are doing to
Jewish children.

But there is even more that makes me depressed. There were
signs all along Malchei Yisrael and in Kikar ha-Shabbat echoing the Eidah’s
labeling of the proposed revisions of the draft as a gezerat shmad. They were
signed by people I respect – Rav Berel Povarsky of Ponoveh and Rav Ovadiah
Yosef among others.

I find it hard to believe – perhaps I refuse to believe –
that these intelligent, caring and learned people truly believe that going to
the IDF is equivalent to shmad. That would be a horrible insult to every ben
Torah who serves or has served. I can only ascribe their pronouncements to
their being forgeries – which are not at all uncommon in the chareidi world –
or that they too have been swept away by the rhetoric of the Eidah, similar to
Moshe’s unfortunate characterization of klal Yisrael as rebels at the time he
hit the rock.

More seriously, to my mind, was the letter signed ostensibly
by Rav Yitzchak Scheiner, rosh yeshiva of Kaminetz, in which he called on the olam
hayeshivot to be ready to go to jail – or worse!!! How can a responsible person
allow such venom and such calumny to spill from his pen!?

I am by nature quite cynical. Thus, I find it hard to
believe that the Eidah arranged the demonstration because they felt that the tefillot
of tinokot shel beit rabban are the most effective means of abrogating what
they see as a gezerat shmad. Rather, it is clear to me that they were flexing
their muscles to demonstrate to Bibi that they control the streets and can
bring out the troops en masse whenever they choose.

Again, and as I have
written numerous times, the Eidah itself is a fanatic fringe; their resolution
to follow their own agenda is unbreakable and nothing would please them more
than to have a number of men thrown into jail for draft dodging, for it would
greatly strengthen their ranks.

I don’t believe that there is any point in
entering into a dialogue with them. Dialogues by definition depend on their
being two participants and with the Eidah, there is simply nothing that they
feel should be discussed. At the same time, I am aghast at the possibility that
their agenda will infect the greater olam ha-Torah and that the few sane people
will hide in fear as the lunatics gain control of the asylum.

Why am I so depressed? By training and by exposure, I firmly
believe that gedolai yisrael have a clarity of vision that most of us lack. I
don’t see this as a form of nevuah; Chazal were clear that gedolim err and the
Torah requires a korban when the Sanhedrin rules incorrectly. Nevertheless, one
of the qualities that is gained by intensive Torah study is the ability to
perceive truth without being blinded by personal agendas and interests. How do
I explain to myself the policies of the gedolim in the face of the present
crisis?

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.